Champions Trophy India: India Fight Well But Lose

On Saturday night India lost to arch rivlas Pakistan in their first ODI of the ICC Champions Trophy. Let us look at the match facts.

The Pakis won the toss and elected to bat. Unfortunately the pitch was a batsman favouring one, and Pakistan made good use of it.

The openers Imran Nazir and Kamran Akmal started smashing. But Ashish Nehra got both of them out quickly to put some pressure on the Pakis. Then pacer Ishant Sharma bowled a couple of maidens to increase the pressure. R.P Singh was expensive but took the important wicket of Younis Khan which was a huge setback for the Pakis.

The Indians were in a good position and their confidence was very high.

But suddenly there was a huge partnership which shattered all hopes of the Indians. Shoaib Malik(128) and Mohammad Yousuf(87) put up a huge partnership of 206 runs to help the Pakis post a total of 302 runs.

After these star batsmen fell the wickets started tumbling like pins and Pakistan ended their innings at 302/9 in 50 overs.

India have had a poor record of chasing under lights recently, and chasing such a huge target was really difficult.

But they did not lose hope and started batting. Gautam Gambhir came out with the Master Blaster to open. The Master Blaster unfortunately couldn't show his magic and departed on 8. This was a huge setback for the Indians.

But Gautam Gambhir didn't lose hope and smashed 57 of just 49 balls. He was looking in good touch when he was run out in a suicidal fashion by Younis Khan.

Then Virat Kohli and M.S Dhoni fell cheaply and India were looking as if their innings would collapse soon.

But then Suresh Raina came in and smashed 46 of just 41 balls and contributed to a 72 run partnership with Rahul Dravid to keeps the Indian hopes alive. But he too had to finally depart.

Then came India's last hope Yusuf Pathan but lost his wicket very quickly. Now it was only up to Rahul Dravid to smash and guide India to a narrow win.

He was looking in good touch and tried to do his job but unfortunately his partner Harbhjan Singh was the cause for his run out dismissal and the Indian hopes' shattering.

Then the Paki bowlers got the tailenders' wickets quickly and wrapped up the Indian innings for 248.

Now India need two must wins against the mighty Aussies and the weak Windies in its next two matches.

So I conclude this article as I wish the Indians luck for their next two ODIs.